Windy Ridge Hut to Pine Valley Hut, Overland Track, Cradle Mountain Lake St Clair National Park - May 1998

Time for another short sharp installment of our our first walk on the Overland Track, this little post is actually not technically on the Overland Track, Pine Valley is a side trip off the main trail but its a side trip that's definitely worth doing. We'd managed to snag a couple of good days weather over the last couple of days so it wasn't a huge surprise that we set off towards Pine Valley today in somewhat damper conditions. Todays walk had us continuing south on the Overland Track for around 5 kilometres before turning west up into Pine Valley.

The first 5 kilometres down the Overland Track is a really easy stroll with a very gentle down hill gradient, turning onto the Pine Valley track it was still very easy walking but now we were gently climbing again. The walk up Pine Valley is a beautiful walk, with most of the damper sections crossed on duck boards, the route follows Cephissus Creek up stream through beautiful sections of Myrtle, interspersed with some open buttongrass covered plains. Arriving at the luxurious (well it was to us!) Pine Valley Hut Sam made herself at home in the empty hut while I grabbed some gear and headed out to explore.

Beautiful walking in Pine Valley.

My afternoons objective was to climb The Acropolis, now this wasn't a fait accompli however as I suspected that the snow and the weather would have a say in how my little adventure would pan out. After checking out the picture perfect Cephissus Falls I continued on, the track soon starting its steep ascent onto the plateau below the cliffs of The Acropolis. The climb while steep, was another work of art when it came to the trackies abilities to utilise the materials that nature had provided, the use of the natural materials engineered into the the natural environment provided for a beautiful walking track, so good that it almost took my mind off the steep climb...almost. Reaching the plateau below The Acropolis cliffs I could see that the tops where covered in cloud. Its always a dilemma in these conditions, do you push on and hope for a break in the weather or do you head back down and then Murphy's law seems to apply and the cloud is guaranteed to lift. Today I continued up, climbing steeply through ever deepening snow until the more or less at the base of the cliffs, once at the final climbing chute, with the weather still  crap and the snow fairly deep I decided that it wasn't worth the risk. Retracing my steps through the snow I returned to a large rock near a beautiful snow gum on the plateau, sitting here eating my scroggin was a great consolation prize for not making the summit.

Cephissus Falls.

The top of The Acropolis was still shrouded in cloud.

I'm not going to make it up today.

Returning to Sam down at Pine Valley Hut we were lucky that the weather cleared in time for sunset, the views from the hell pad towards The Parthenon and The Minotaur being particularly good. Eventually the plunging temperature forced us back to the warmth of the hut where once again we were lucky enough to have the place to ourselves for the night.

Looking down to Lake St Clair from the track up to The Acropolis.

That faint smudge at the head of the valley is Mt Olympus I think.

The Dirt.

I walked 16 kilometres today although its less than 10 kilometres if you only walk from Windy Ridge to Pine Valley Hut. The track from Windy Ridge Hut to Pine Valley Hut is an easy walk, the climb up The Acropolis I'd probably rate as a medium walk, although in the snow or bad conditions its hard and probably not suitable to inexperienced walkers. Pine Valley is an excellent side trip off the Overland Track, probably the best in my opinion, although you need a couple of days at least.

Relevant Posts.

Day 1 of this walk.

Day 2 of this walk.

Day 3 of this walk. 

Day 4 of this walk. 

Day 5 of this walk.
The Overland Track 2003. 

The Parthenon and The Minotaur from the hell pad at Pine Valley Hut.